25 min
Overview
Two parks on the slopes north of Oswego Lake, Iron Mountain Park and Springbrook Park, preserve a variable mixed woodland that includes Pacific madrone and Oregon white oak. You can connect the two using quiet neighborhood streets. The Iron Mountain Park trails are part of Lake Oswego's new Iron Heritage Trail, and the area was the site of the Prosser Iron Mine, which operated from 1867 to 1894. The hike directions begin from the new Iron Mountain Park Trailhead, opened in February 2021, but there are other options for accessing this loop. From the parking area, you can walk past the restrooms and then follow the trail over a bridge that crosses a small stream. This area was part of what used to be known as Prosser's Swale or Springbrook Marsh, an area much altered over the decades. To your left, you can see a large pond, a remnant of the marsh and reached by a short trail and boardwalk past a play area. Behind the pond are the large equestrian center and corrals of the Lake Oswego Hunt. Once across the bridge, make a right on a new trail to begin the loop. You'll head along on a new graveled trail under a canopy of Douglas-firs. The trail parallels Iron Mountain Boulevard just to the right. When you reach a junction, bear left to begin an ascent of the forested Iron Mountain bluff in several short, tight switchbacks which replace what was once a steep user trail. You'll come to a junction with the old wagon road turned railroad bed which served to take ore from the Prosser Iron Mine. Bear left here, and hike along the bluff to reach another junction. Here, take the main path where it continues to the right and keep rising below an oak-forested hillside. The wagon road was originally paved with black slag from the blast furnace on the Willamette River, and you may be able to discern a few chunks in the tread. When you reach a picnic table and overlook platform, you'll get a view across to Cooks Butte (described in the Luscher Farm-Cooks Butte Loop Hike). Oswego Lake is barely visible beyond a low ridge. Inte
Trail Stats
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123 m
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Photos
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500px-IronMountainSpringbrookParkMap
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